Cosplay in Thailand

(Cute turquoise and pink girl: (Apparently the slightly crooked teeth she has is considered a super cute beauty feature is Japan! It is kind of cute, isn’t it?)

One interesting Japanese fashion that has caught on amongst young people in Thailand is cosplay. Cosplay is where people dress up like their favorite characters from anime or manga, or just archetypal characters like schoolgirls and cat maids. Siam Paragon recently had a cosplay festival. I was really amazed at all the great costumes and models that were there. It was really a visual feast for photographers!

“there is a light and it never goes out”, or light in Thailand for photographers

Matisse moved to the South of France chasing its beautiful light. When I first read this, I remember thinking: light is light, dark is dark, how can light be different from one place to another? It’s only when I came to South-East Asia that I understood how light can have different qualities.

Depending on the time of day, the light here is soft and kind, stark and merciless, pure gold, heavy and tired. Capturing these different feelings and moods is what makes photography in Thailand and South-East Asia so interesting.

As Shanghai photographer Franc Peret says: “don’t chase the subject, chase the light.”

Morning light is a beautiful soft light. Morning light is violet and kind, there is a tenderness to every morning landscape:

Noon light: In South-East Asia this light is very, very strong and washes out all the colors. I don’t like taking pictures at this time, never mind it’s hot to be walking around doing anything at all.

(These colors have to be cranked up using photoshop, and even then, it feels pretty washed out)

Late afternoon light: This is the most beautiful time of day here. The light feels like liquid gold. If I am free, I always try to go for a walk around this time.

Nightfall: In Bangkok itself, nightfall is weary and dramatic, but in the countryside, nightfall is dense and beautiful.

What is your favorite time of day for taking pictures in Thailand?

last night: photozero photojournalism expo at raindogs

Last night Raindogs was hosting Photozero, a photojournalism conference, with presentations by the journalists. I nominally showed up to watch my friend DJ but I got quite caught up in the presentations.

Jason P. Howe, with no journalism training whatsoever and no Spanish, decided that he wanted to document the armed conflict in Columbia. So he would just hitchike into people’s camps, try to befriend the various sides, and take pictures. He said that people were quite nice to him, because he wasn’t a professional journalist, just a normal person, and they let him stay with them in their camps for long periods of time. Also, he found out his Columbian girlfriend was a professional assassin and Hollywood is now making a movie about his life. I was quite inspired by this guy and his kick-ass spirit of “just do it”.

Then Nick Nostitz presented some photos about the red. vs. yellow shirt conflict in Thailand. It was quite powerful to see the images, and realize that all this stuff had been happening while I was buying friend chicken on my soi.

The strongest pictures, the ones who left me completely speechless, were “A Fragile Peace” by Paula Bronstein, who has been documenting Afghanistan for 8 years.

Audience member: “How was it for you as a woman photographer in Afghanistan? Did you find that the people you were photographing were more difficult with you because you were a woman? Or did they just ignore that because you were a member of the press?”

Paula: “No, they were more difficult with me because I am a woman. And I was more difficult with them.”

You can see some examples of Paula’s photography here.

Picture of Patati Patata (say it fast!)

One of my pictures of Patati Patata, a tiny burger restaurant from my hood in Montreal, has been included in a travel guide for Montreal!